Overview
- SABIC’s Jubail facility, hit April 7, remains offline, choking supply of high‑purity polyphenylene ether resin that underpins PCB laminate production.
- PCB prices jumped as much as 40% in April, according to Goldman Sachs, as makers rushed to secure inputs for the boards that sit at the heart of phones, PCs, and AI servers.
- Suppliers have begun seeking price increases with customers while wait times for chemicals such as epoxy resin stretched to about 15 weeks from roughly three, a Daeduck Electronics executive said.
- Other key inputs are tight too, with copper foil up about 30% this year and glass fiber in short supply; copper makes up around 60% of PCB raw‑material costs, industry data show.
- Disrupted Gulf shipping and naphtha shortages flagged by major Japanese photoresist suppliers threaten to slow chip output at customers like Samsung and SK Hynix, raising the risk of higher device prices and potential delays for new hardware.